books.google.com - Subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” Wilde’s play is a brilliantly satirical comedy of manners, sending up the absurdity of Victorian social mores and cleverly critiquing the conventions of love and marriage. The tale of two gentlemen who adopt fictitious identities in order to woo...http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Importance_of_Being_Earnest.html?id=4HIWAAAAYAAJ&utm_source=gb-gplus-shareThe Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest(Google eBook)

Subtitled “A Trivial Comedy for Serious People,” Wilde’s play is a brilliantly satirical comedy of manners, sending up the absurdity of Victorian social mores and cleverly critiquing the conventions of love and marriage. The tale of two gentlemen who adopt fictitious identities in order to woo the objects of their affections is Wilde’s most beloved work, considered to be one of the wittiest plays ever written in English. The glowing critical reception in London on opening night at the St. James Theater in 1895 marked the high point of Wilde’s career as a writer.

User ratings

5 stars

95

4 stars

31

3 stars

9

2 stars

2

1 star

8

LibraryThing Review

User Review - Kirmuriel - LibraryThing

Such a great play, if played well, I guess it would be a pleasure to watch it. It is so funny, I was literally laughing out LOUD on every page. I hope I didn't disturb the neighbors. The female characters are so great foolish in an unfoolish way. And the handbag, just unforgettable.Read full review

Review: The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Novel for Serious People

Popular passages

Page 33 - I am pleased to hear it. I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, , at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square.

Page 63 - You mustn't think that I am wicked. CECILY: If you are not, then you have certainly been deceiving us all in a very inexcusable manner. I hope you have not been leading a double life, pretending to be wicked and being really good all the time. That would be hypocrisy.

Page 62 - I am more than usually tall for my age. (ALGERNON is rather taken aback.) But I am your cousin Cecily. You, I see from your card, are Uncle Jack's brother, my cousin Ernest, my wicked cousin Ernest. ALGERNON: Oh! I am not really wicked at all, cousin Cecily. You mustn't think that I am wicked.

Page 17 - That is not very pleasant. Indeed, it is not even decent . . . and that sort of thing is enormously on the increase. The amount of women in London who flirt with their own husbands is perfectly scandalous. It looks so bad. It is simply washing one's clean linen in public.

Page 116 - You have been christened already. ALGERNON. Yes, but I have not been christened for years. JACK. Yes, but you have been christened. That is the important thing. ALGERNON. Quite so. So I know my constitution can stand it. If you are not quite sure about your ever having been christened, I must say I think it rather dangerous your venturing on it now. It might make you very unwell. You can hardly have forgotten that someone very closely connected with you was very nearly carried off this week in Paris...

Page 69 - And you do not seem to realize, dear Doctor, that by persistently remaining single, a man converts himself into a permanent public temptation. Men should be more careful; this very celibacy leads weaker vessels astray. CHASUBLE. But is a man not equally attractive when married? MISS PRISM. No married man is ever attractive except to his wife. CHASUBLE. And often, I've been told, not even to her. MISS PRISM. That depends on the intellectual sympathies of the woman. Maturity can always be depended...

Page 143 - Bracknell (in a severe, judicial voice) : Prism ! (Miss PRISM bows her head in shame.) Come here, Prism ! (Miss PRISM approaches in a humble manner.) Prism ! Where is that baby ? (General consternation. The CANON starts back in horror. ALGERNON and JACK pretend to be anxious to shield CECILY and GWENDOLEN from hearing the details of a terrible public scandal...

Page 34 - That is satisfactory. What between the duties expected of one during one's life-time, and the duties exacted from one after one's death, land has ceased to be either a profit or a pleasure. It gives one position, and prevents one from keeping it up. That's all that can be said about land. Jack. I have a country house with some land, of course, attached to it, about fifteen hundred acres, I believe; but I don't depend on that for my real income.

About the author (1899)

Oscar Wilde, a writer remembered for his sharp wit and biting social satire, was born in Dublin in 1854. His natural ease with language was further honed at Oxford, where he studied classics. At the height of his fame, following the London premiere of his play The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde was charged with “gross indecency” for his homosexuality and imprisoned for two years. He then abandoned England for Paris, where he lived until his death in 1900.